


A Meeting That Never Was

by Aliucon



Category: Kingdom Hearts, Persona 3, Persona 4, Persona Series
Genre: Crack Crossover, Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-10
Updated: 2014-12-10
Packaged: 2018-02-28 22:51:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2750081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aliucon/pseuds/Aliucon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A robot and a Nobody. They'd never meet.</p><p>If they did, this is how it'd most likely play out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Meeting That Never Was

**Author's Note:**

> (Based on a future chapter of a much better story, which I'd highly recommend checking out:
> 
>  
> 
> [Solitaire](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2289770/chapters/6058856)
> 
>  
> 
> Thank you for your time.)

Roxas surveyed the town from atop the clock tower, which made for a great and familiar vantage point. Nothing different caught his eye, but he was used to let them wander aimlessly at that point, getting whatever pleasure he could from watching the scenery. He was alone: though the other members were still working him harder by the days and teaching him all the nuances of fighting, today’s work had been light, and Roxas simply found himself with time to spare.  Time he had no idea how to use. The only thing he could think of was to wait for Axel in their usual spot, and perhaps share an ice-cream when he arrived.

This is how most days would go, he thought. And he wasn’t sure just how much he was comfortable with that idea. But if he didn’t know what to do himself, then, spending days like this was for the best, right?

He pushed himself away from the tower’s edge and stood up, with sluggish movements, his gaze going up to the twilight for a moment, then around and around. As good as the view from above was, sitting in one place limited it, and if Roxas was doing nothing else, he thought he should at least be sure to know from where and when Axel came. So he busied himself with keeping this broad view for a while.

As luck would have it, this made him see something different before long.

Someone different had just started walking around the market street. Different in the sense that it was unlike any other person Roxas had seen there, though, in his memory, he really could only recall only one or other shopkeeper. The person in question had a pretty long hair tied in a ponytail, its color similar to Zexion’s, but lighter. And though it was harder to make out their body or clothes, but even from the distance, Roxas was pretty sure that the person had wings.

This new individual kept Roxas’ interest for a while as it went to and fro on the street. It seemed to have no clear destination, and it stopped a fair bit to take in the surroundings or get closer to a shop, then back. This action puzzled Roxas, until it struck him that the person was asking something to the clerks rather than trying to buy anything.

In short, they seemed utterly lost. Something Roxas could relate to immediately.

After some hesitation, and a searching glance around to make sure Axel still wasn’t coming, Roxas descended the clock tower and headed to the market street, at a brisker pace than usual.

Sure enough, upon arriving from the back alley into the street, the one he was looking for was still there, back turned to Roxas, now scratching their head in confusion. Roxas felt the urge to call out to them, yet the words didn’t really come. What was he supposed to say? He thought back to Xemnas, who had first greeted him when he found himself in the town for the first time. What had they talked about? A name… And a proposition to enter the Organization. That sounded about right. But he wasn’t good at giving names...

“Hey!”

His thoughts were cut short by the call from a female voice. Without Roxas noticing, the girl had turned and waved once in his direction before approaching. Now closer to each other, her features were more evident. She had piercing red eyes, a white uniform and a black-and-white pleated skirt. Her limbs were rather strange, being coated or composed by metal, and though her arms still clearly had hands, her legs were long stubbles devoid of anything resembling feet. Despite that, she walked and moved much like any other person Roxas knew. And, sure enough, the wings he had perceived earlier were still present, also metallic and with strange symmetric gaps through it.

“Y’know the way from here back to Inaba?” She asked, bluntly. This approach and the fact that she was definitely a girl only made Roxas uncomfortable, as he only really had Larxene as reference for an encounter with another girl, and fear of being called out in some way settled in.

When he didn’t respond, but rather shuddered in discomfort, the metallic girl tilted her head. “You alright there?”

Roxas nodded, still not saying anything.

“So… I’m gonna guess you don’t know the way either,” she continued after a pause, and let out a sigh, her head hanging low and sad. The fact that she appeared to be lost resurged in Roxas’ mind, and prompted him to speak after all.

“I’m sorry.”

The girl shook her head.

“Ah well, what can y’do. I just need to keep searching, is all.”

Her body was turning another way when Roxas spoke again, drawing from the only thing he could think of.

“Do you have a name…?”

Her eyes turned to him again, a bit wider than they had been.

“Huh? That’s a weird thing to ask. ‘Course I got a name!” Her voice had much more energy in it all of a sudden. “It’s Labrys! Nice to meetcha!”

So she did already have a name. And it was a weird thing to ask. This made Roxas ponder whether he should go to the next step and call her into the Organization anyway.  But it seemed like, unlike him, she knew what she was searching for. Roxas didn’t know how to deal with that.

“… You’re not one to talk much, are ya?”

Roxas’ best guess was that she sounded bothered now, but at that moment, he could think of nothing he could do to remedy that. Labrys cocked her head after there was no response to her last remark.

“What’s your name?”

That, he could answer. Looking back at her red eyes, the boy nodded.

“Roxas.”

“Roxas, huh…” She repeated, as if testing how the name sounded. “Alright. Do you know where I could get a train or a bus here?”

After a moment of thinking, Roxas remembered that, below the clock tower he so often went to, there was a train station. He hadn’t really used it, but it seemed to be what his acquaintance decided to look for now. So, nodding once again and beckoning Labrys to follow, he led the way there, up and towards the central station.

Once in front of the building, Labrys went inside by herself, and Roxas could hear her voice in discussion with another for the next minute or two. He waited, expecting her to come back out at any second, and so she did, although her humor hadn’t improved in the slightest, and her head hang low again, which was odd. She had wanted to come here, right?

“This is so weird…”

Her plight was being suppressed by some manner of self-control which Roxas couldn’t fathom, yet felt like he wanted to know.

“What’s wrong?” He finally asked.

“I just don’t get it. I was with my friends… I think somethin’ happened, somethin’ went messing with my head… Then I wasn’t myself anymore…? Why can’t I remember…?”

She seemed to be talking to herself, rather than with Roxas, which just kept looking at her. He couldn’t understand it very well, but the more he went over her words, the more they seemed eerily relatable. He partook of her sadness, and his chest hurt a bit.

Labrys eventually raised her eyes to meet Roxas’ again.

“Sorry, this all must sound like a bunch of baloney to you…” She scratched her head. “I just really shouldn’t be here. Last I know of it, I appear in front of this big mansion I’ve never seen before, and I feel all weak and confused... Now I start to ask for my way to where my friends are and no one in town knows.”

“Friends…”

It felt like weeks since he had thought more deeply on it, but Roxas remembered seeing a trio of friends together in that town before. And it seemed like they had something. Something he wish he had. Even though he didn’t really know the first thing about ‘friends’.

“Yeah,” Labrys confirmed, “I was with them… I don’t remember what we were doing, though… It was important, too…”

One of her hands grasped her opposite shoulder, clutching it strongly.

“I’m… scared for them. I don’t know why. I… I hope they’re alright.”

Silence fell between them. None of them seemed inclined to talk, being much too absorbed into their own minds to think about what to say next. The scene was held like that for a long time. Once or twice, in moments far apart, other people went in and out of the station, glancing at the two and then going on their way.

Finally, Roxas ended the silence.

“Do you want some ice-cream?”

“… Huh?”

Suddenly alert and confused in equal measure, Labrys observed Roxas’ hand dig into a pocket of his overcoat and come out with a handful of small, yellow squares. She seemed to wait for an explanation, but Roxas didn’t really know how to express what he was trying to do at first. It felt like something he wanted to do, and that she might want too. Only after a while did he start to realize that he was just doing what Axel had tried to do with him. It brought them closer, didn’t it? Was that what being ‘friends’ was?

As the thoughts circled around Roxas’ mind, he heard a faint laugh, and that made him focus on Labrys again. Just like that, she seemed all the more cheerful.

“You’re a weird guy,” was the first thing she said after that. “But I can’t- I mean, I can now, right? After that…”

Her voice lowered into whispers to herself, but when the volume rose, she still sounded cheerful.

“I can go lookin’ for my way back in a bit. I’d sure like some ice-cream!”

At this, Roxas couldn’t help but smile. It was a faint one, to be sure, but he felt glad nonetheless after feeling so down by this girl’s situation.

Buying the ice-cream was no problem. He knew where Axel went to get them, even if Roxas didn’t always go along. Once purchased with the munny the boy had, he led the girl all the way up to the clock tower, since he couldn’t quite imagine having it anywhere else. Labrys kept up with him pretty well, and though her wings didn’t flap, she sure could jump.

Once by the edge of the tower, each with their ice-cream in hand, Roxas sat down and looked at his companion as she followed suit.

“ _This_ is where you hang out?” She asked, eyeing the place where Roxas sat, warily. They had talked a bit along the way, and since Roxas had not much to tell her other than his hanging out with Axel there, he did just that.

When he nodded, Labrys shook her head. “What an irresponsible place your friend chose. Someone falls from here, they oughta get seriously hurt, y’know? How old is this guy, 10?”

Roxas cocked his head as it searched for the best answer he could give to that. “He’s taller than me,” he concluded.

This earned him a horrified gasp from Labrys.

“T-That’s even worse! I’m gonna have a talk with him when he gets here, just you wait!”

Roxas wasn’t sure about how serious she was, but he hoped she wouldn’t hurt Axel. It crossed his mind that all women were kind of scary. He soothed himself by taking a bite off his ice-cream.

Seeing what he did, Labrys ventured to do the same.

“By the way, what fl-“

She tried speaking while the taste of the ice-cream still settled in, but her voice stopped short. Roxas looked, and saw her face contort into the most sincere surprise he had witnessed yet. A spasm or two seemed to cross by it, too, as she brought the ice-cream in front of her eyes again.

“T-This is… ice-cream?” She seemed to be asking that with difficulty, so much so that Roxas wasn’t sure whether he should confirm that or not.

It didn’t matter in the end, as Labrys rambled on:

“It can’t be! It’s so salty- But wait, it’s… sweet? No, this is... W-What is this? I can’t define…  But it’s salty! It can’t be ice-cream- It’s sweet, though. Ah…. Ahhhh…”

This was all weird for Roxas. He knew what she was reacting to, but he had no idea it could get as strong as that. Still, he didn’t figure out it was an emergency until, after shivering for a bit and bending her own body, she let the rest of the ice-cream drop.

An alarm roared somewhere, and a low, robotic voice sounded from all around both of them, without Labrys really opening her mouth. The spasms in her face seemed to increase in quantity, and the sound of steam being let out also began at some point.

_Error._

_Error._

 

_Test object input data incompatible with the current database. Exception triggered. No behavior compatible with the scenario found. Cancelling the Perception test._

_Accessing emergency shutdown system._

Before Roxas could react or even summon his Keyblade, everything around him went black.

___

A loud sigh echoed through the silent laboratory. To one side, there was a large, gray seat, outfitted with numerous plugs, cables and metal holds for the arms and legs. It was being currently occupied by Labrys. To the other side, sat by a top-notch computer and looking displeased at its screen, was a woman whose body resembled that of the contained girl, but her hair was much shorter and golden in color.

Begrudgingly, this woman rose from her chair and walked next to Labrys’, bending over a small slot to its side and removing a cartridge from it.

“It’s a shame that the simulation was a failure… I’m sorry, sister.” Aigis headed back to her own seat, depositing the item she held by the monitor, and looking over the data displayed again. “It was my belief that a complete sensory experience would make for the optimal test situation… Perhaps I should try a more gradual or standard procedure this time.”

Saying that, she typed in a few commands, initializing a simple motion test to begin with. As she did so and checked on any potential response her sister gave to it, she grabbed the “Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days” cartridge and looked at it again.

“Oh! I also can’t forget to give this back to Junpei-san…”


End file.
